STEAMERS WITHDRAWN FROM TRADE.

Evening Post, Volume 137, Issue CXI, 10 June 1926, Page 11

STEAMERS WITHDRAWN FROM TRADE.

Complaints of the depressed - state of the Australian coastal shipping trade are made by three Australian companies—the ' Australian Steamships Pty., the Australian United Steam Navigation Compauy, and Howard Smith (which is a holding company with wide interests). It is announced that the A.IT.S.N. Company has sold two steamers of its fleet for withdrawal from the Australian coastal service. Comments an exchange: "Trouble in the shipping trade largely arises out of the multiplicity of matters dealt with iv industrial awards. In attempting to regulate conditions iv many directions, scope is njforded for' mischief-mak-ing by both men and their leaders,, and they do not fail to employ time in endeavouring to construe awards entirely in their favour, This position of affairs, together with the frequency of strikes or of stop-work action, and the cost of complying with the provisions of the Navigation Act, have led to freights and fares t having to be lifted to the highest point practicable. Yet losses such as those .reported in connection with the operations of the Australian Steamships Pty., Ltd., have had to be incurred. In the case of the A.U.S.N. Company, control is in London, the organisation being associated with the P. iiTid 0. Company. That means that its directors have a greater freedom of action than any other shipping concern engaged in the Australian coastal trade. If the board has sold the two steamers to get away from a country in which conditions exist such as those described at the meeting of Howard Smith, Ltd., who will blame the directors?"